Group presents school for immigrant students

Gary Horton might be done on the Erie School Board, but he isn't done with education.

Horton and a group of supporters presented plans to the Erie School Board on Thursday night for the Erie New Americans Friendship Academy Charter School. The proposed school would focus on providing language skills and comprehension for English as a second language students.

"This is an idea whose time has come," Horton said. "We think the children deserve it."

If approved by the Erie School Board, the new school would open for the 2013-14 school year with an estimated 240 students. That group of students would largely be made up of refugee and immigrant students who Horton said organizations like the Multicultural Community Resource Center would refer to the school.

The school's organizers have a tentative agreement to locate at the former St. John-Holy Rosary Eastside Catholic School, 504 E. 27th St. Horton's group has a proposal for a five-year lease in which the charter school would pay $100,000 a year to rent the building.

Consultant Harold Kurtz, who is working with Horton, said the main difference between the Erie School District's English as a second language program and what would be offered at the New Americans school is that the school's entire staff would be trained to deal with students with limited English proficiency. The school would also have an extended school day.

The proposed school would start with kindergarten through fifth grade, adding a grade each year until the school has a projected 360 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Kurtz said the goal of the school would be to prepare students to attend the Erie School District's high schools.

During the hearing Thursday night, Erie schools Superintendent Jay Badams said he had some concerns with the idea of removing English as a second language students, the fastest growing group within the district, from the general population.

Horton said he doesn't see putting the students together in his school as segregation. Instead, it offers a chance to engage the students in a different way while preparing them to succeed in a traditional classroom.

"Some children need to be nurtured into what it means to be an American," Horton said. "And I think we can do it better in a larger group than one or two in a class."

Board member Robbie Fabrizi echoed Badams' concerns. But board member Eva Tucker Jr. said the idea of pulling out that segment of students is similar to what is done for at-risk students at the R. Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School and the Perseus House Charter School of Excellence.

The Erie School Board must now wait at least 45 days to vote on the school's charter.